As luck would have it, I was multitasking while researching this Black History Month column. While I scanned www.blackhistorydaily.com for appropriate quotations from some noted African-American, I jumped over to Yahoo! and stumbled across the perfect quote in the obituary of Pete Seeger (folksinger, activist and noted Caucasian).

As an American, I laugh at those archaic British spellings. Colour? Honour? Their inferiourity, if you will, is obvious. Centre? Theatre? Ridiculous. Most of these barbaric forms were corrected in America hundreds of years ago. Yet one galling Britishism is appearing on my computer screen all too frequently of late: "cancelled," with a gratuitous extra l.

This past week, The Tribune received a press release asking us to consider running a story about National School Choice Week, Jan. 26 through Feb. 1. However, most of the resources they pointed to were directed towards large metropolitan areas. In addition, we could not locate in these materials what organization(s) were sponsors of this national campaign.

America, the elites are very disappointed in you. We're not keeping up with South Korea and Singapore, they tell us, because you are coddling your mediocre children who are being taught by bottom-of-the-barrel teachers. But have no fear, America, help is on the way! Pearson, the testing company that has gotten rich by making American students fill in little bubbles all day long, is advising the White House on how to whip us all into college-ready shape.

Why do people like Rev. Jeremiah Wright travel across America to exhort audiences to denigrate Tea Party Americans as racist? Because failing to personally discredit your fellow man with false witness means people might actually listen to his reasoned policies and thus disagree with yours.

The big health insurance companies played a high-stakes double game throughout the 2009 health care fight, funding attacks on the so-called public option - an explicitly government-run competitor - while otherwise supporting the central elements of the bill that ultimately passed: vast taxpayer-funded subsidies flowing to their potential customers and a mandate requiring every American to buy their products. Yet the law is becoming such a disaster that the insurers stand to take losses in the new exchanges - losses that will largely be passed on to taxpayers under a provision called Risk Corridors.

On February 2 of this year, thousands will gather at Met Life Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., to watch the Seattle Seahawks battle the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XLVIII. As the athletes take the field and the fans cheer, they will be oblivious to the tragedy unfolding around them in dark hotel rooms across East Rutherford.